Katie Johnson “When Signs Say Go”

When I put this in, I immediately thought of Lenka. Katie Johnson is a woman with her guitar. The songwriting needs a little work, but everything else is fantastic. She just needs to get older, I bet. “A Perfect World” seems to use her skills optimally, with a generally flatter melody that works well with her voice.
I appreciate “Pocket Full of Posies” and am slightly in awe that it goes on for nearly six minutes. That makes it a good makeout song, though, because you can go at it for a long time.
I had a little snicker when I heard “The Promise of Storm” because the guitar was similar to the intro of Jewel’s “You Were Meant for Me,” and “Pieces of You” had some of the worst songwriting ever. Johnson is at least better than that.
“Parachute” is far and away the winner. The mix quality is better, the guitar is sharper, the singing is on key, and even the songwriting works. This might be one of the best individual songs I’ve heard this year.
The other track that stood out to me was “How Could She Know Anything.” I find myself coming back to this one, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe it’s the harmonica.
This record reminds me of Kacey Johansing, which namewise is a very similar name. That could be it, really. But at any rate, this CD really grows on me, like when you see a rookie show occasional flashes of brilliance. You may wonder how I can tell this is an initial effort. I just know.